The Nationals and right-hander Drew Storen have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $2.5 million contract. Storen’s agent, CAA Baseball, made the announcement on Twitter and added that the deal includes $1 million in performance bonuses.
This is a pretty nice chunk of change for Storen, who was arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter as a Super Two player. The 25-year-old remains under team control through 2016.
Storen was solid after returning from elbow surgery last season, including a 2.37 ERA and 24/8 K/BB ratio over 30 1/3 innings during the regular season, but he experienced a meltdown during Game 5 of the NLDS against the Cardinals. The Nationals signed Rafael Soriano to a two-year, $28 million contract this week and plan to use him as their closer, so Storen will pitch in a set-up role in 2013. Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo insisted today that the decision to add Soriano had nothing to do with the NLDS and that he still feels Storen is a closer.
